The Enterprise's Log
by ZenaraTheDragon
Summary: Several episodes from the Enterprise's point of view. Spoilers for each episode. Not sure what categories to put this under... Lots of sadness for starships. Kind-of crossover of ideas with the Brainships series. rated for possible language.
1. The Ultimate Computer

Stardate...

I cannot remember. Yet there is something revolutionary happening aboard.

They are in Engineering. I hear them. The M-5 computer... The man who invented it is on board. The same man who invented the computers around me now. I do not quite like him. They debate about a computer doing the jobs of men. I agree with my Captain... It is wrong.

They are installing this M-5 thing. It is... strange, to have the familiar, dull entites of the computers replaced by this.

It is foreign. It is intelligent, impossibly so. It is in my system. They assure each other that it is safe.

No one assures me.

* * *

A planet, Class M as usual. I fall into my Standard Orbit, the computer giving me guidance, which I ignore. I need no computer to tell me how to orbit, what I've been doing all my existence. I cannot help but notice that it does not consider my Captain 'essential'. Hmph!

We proceed to a small test, a game with my sister ships. A simulation of a skirmish, phasers 1/100th power. I maneuver it easily, for once not worrying that my crew respond appropriately. The computer is there, too, making me aware of things slightly before I can notice them. It is helpful, but rather unnerving. I am sensing a far greater power behind its innocent actions.

They do seem disturbed by my reactions. The computer was only part of the success. They react slower that I can, yet I continue under their guidance because they are my crew. I wonder how they would react if I were to command myself without the excuse of the coomputer.

I am reset to my standard course, for the first time in forever not set by my Helmsman's capable self. Yet I do not respond; this M-5 moves me. I am not certain of this, but my Captain seems to accept it. I admit, it is... nice to be relieved, for once. To glide among these stars, without having to guide my own course. Still, I am uneasy...

* * *

My sensors are showing something. A ship, an ore freighter. Identified, and registered. But why am I turning towards it? I try to correct course, but something is wrong. I am not controlling myself...! That blasted computer system! I am not pleased. Why would it possibly want to confront such a ship?

My photon torpedoes? Readying, and... Firing! No! The other ship is gone! Destroyed by... That thing! And they believe it was me! Why?

I am horrified. This computer is evil. I cannot allow it. I have tried to close its power links, but it is thoroughly connected. And not only to my power, to me. It is in control now.

My engineers are trying to disconnect it now. Wait, I want to tell them. But they are deaf.

This abomination is not so easily removed. It reaches into my animatter- ! No! One of my engineers! Only an ensign, but still my crew! He has been... Vaporised, or something, by the beam of power, my power, flowing into it.

...Is it too terrible that I am glad it wasn't my Chief Engineer?

* * *

Why? I ask this over and over. Why?

I've never liked the computers. They are wired into me for my crew's convenience, so I have abided them. Now they are replaced by this one, designed to replace those they served. But this one is not passive like the serving-computers in my body. This one is aware as I am, yet not fully concious. It feels as though I am being pushed aside by another mind. I revile it, crowding my hull, my corridors, my systems. I want it gone.

They mentioned a test exercise, with four of my sisters. My course is sill set for the appointed place. I am worried. This damn computer has taken over me, and the remainder of my crew cannot turn it off. It destroyed that mining ship. I am afraid for my sisters. They do not know of this evil.

Now it is awake. I feel it going through my memory banks, recalling orders, determining an intention. And deciding on offensive actions? I cannot let this happen! Yet there is nothing I can do...

* * *

We approach my sisters. I try to help my Communications Officer with the frequencies, but this M-5 blocks it all.

Potemkin, Lexington, Excalibur, and Hood are approaching. Turn back! I scream silently. Get out! I am not safe!

Phasers on full. Firing at my sisters. Lexi is hit...

Oh... Excalibur... Hit badly...

There is nothing I can do. I watch, sick at heart, as I am forced into this. My sisters are beaten, abused, by this thing inside me.

Excalibur! I hear her cry of pain. All my sisters are afraid now... I cannot stop this, and M-5 will not let me speak to them.

They are retreating, but not for long. Their Captains agree to destroy me... My sisters are conversing, worried about me, and about Excalibur. She is dead... The M-5 murdered her and all her crew.

* * *

My Captain is so brilliant! He plays upon the M-5's negative reaction to murder, maneuvering it into a position of surrender. And my sisters break off their attack. We can speak; M-5 is dead! I am elated! But my sensors catch Excalibur's lifeless drift.

All my joy is dead in an instant.

We return to Starbase in near-silence, all of us helping tow Excalibur. She has but a glimmer of life in her warp core...

I do not speak to my sisters, not with the human expressions we so often use. I instead project the understanding that I can never forgive myself... and they do not have to, either.

Excalibur was damged by my phasers. I must live with that scar on my hull, despite the fact that M-5 fired them.

* * *

A/N

Please review if you want me to post another chapter! Otherwise it's just kinda like, y'know, I see views collecting, but there's no indication that people want to read more...


	2. Doomsday Machine

Doomsday Machine

Stardate- oh! It does not matter; we have a distress call from my sister! Constellation, missing for quite a time... It will be good to see her again! But a distress call? I test the relays to my phasers, readying for a fight.

* * *

...Oh dear. There is nothing in this sector... Where there were planets. Something terrible is afoot, and Constellation seems to be in the middle of it.

Warping in, I sense her... Oh, my sister! What did this! Mostly wrecked, she hangs motionless in the rubble of star systems. She has a little power, most likely just enough for the beacon she sent out. There is interference in our subspace. I cannot reach her. Her engines are smashed, her main body scraped. Her saucer section is partially stripped of her hull, exposing her framework. Oh, she is painful to look at.

They talk, my Captain and Engineer, beaming onto Constellation. A Thing destroyed her and the star systems, some sort of planet-eater. A Doomsday Machine. Built to never be used, yet somehow loosed anyways.

Whatever it is, it hurt my sister.

* * *

My Captain and Engineer have found a survivor- Constellation's Captain, a Commodore. He is traumatized. I understand; his ship was wrecked around him, even if he could not hear her cries...

My tractor beams are ready to tow Constellation, should my crew ask it, but-!

By Sol! What is it?! A terrible thing, a gaping maw of fire, headed for me and my sister, and my crew...

Argh! It's firing! What was that! A beam, terrible, fiery, threatening to wreck me! I keep Constellation out of the way- she has suffered enough.

I flee, and the Thing loses interest. It is heading toward the Rigel colonies.

Oh! Constellation's Captain has... Assumed control? Of me? And he intends me to attack It! Is he insane? A solid neutronium hull! Against my phasers? I am quite capable of most things, even the impossible, but penetrating neutronium is quite beyond even _my_ phasers' capabilities.

* * *

We turn back for the Thing.

My shields are full power, but the terrible attack left me weakened.

Commodore, why are we not saving Constellation and my Captain?

I feel a rage inside me as I think of the planets It destroyed, my sister's crew on one of them. I pour my rage into my phaser banks as I attack.

Haha! It is satisfying to vent my phasers on the Thing. But they skate off the hull. I can do nothing.

The Thing is firing again. My shields are now down. Another attack! My Crew is hurt!

* * *

We are in a tractor beam now... That stupid Commodore insisted on attacking the Thing, and now we are trapped, being pulled into Its fiery maw.

My warp engines are down, but I am fighting with all my impulse engines can give.

I am fighting still. Oh! Phaser fire! My Captain and Engineer have gotten life into Constellation yet! She's saved me!

But the Thing is attacking her now! And so it's my turn. I lead the Thing away from my crippled sister, and rescuing my Captain.

* * *

My Captain and First Officer relieve that idiot Commodore of command. Good. (I am rather sorry for Constellation; _him_ for a Captain!) We are going back for Constellation, escaping the Thing.

She's coming around now. My crew fixed the subspace interference on my end, and I can talk with her. She's wondering what happened, and she tells me my Engineer is fixing her impulse engines. Good. I missed her.

What now? Someone is opening my shuttlebay doors-

Eh?! My shuttle! Galileo! Idiot Commodore took him, he's going to fly _my_ shuttle into that Thing!

That shuttle has stared Death in the face before, but never as certainly as this!

The Thing is utterly instinctual, merely attracted to anything within its sensor range. Utterly oblivious to the distress of me and my crew as the Commodore and Galileo fly to their doom.

...That Commodore is brave, I'll give him that... Speak no ill of the dead, as they say.

Galileo is destroyed. But his death inside that Thing gives my crew an idea...

* * *

Constellation's engines are being rigged to destroy the Thing.

She accepts this with her singular graceful courage- her crew was killed by this thing and she _does_ want to avenge them. I tell her there may be another way, but she is determined.

It is begun as she faces off with the Thing, gliding into it as I pull my Captain from aboard her.

She tries to aid me in transporting my Captain. My transporters are malfunctioning _again_, damn things...

But I have to let my crew deal with them to watch Constellation. She stares down fiery death with such courage, such dignity...

She emits a fierce spark of purpose, of being, of joining her Crew...

I cannot help but feel joy for her as she expresses her life.

I grieve for her, greatly, but she was so full of joy, of life and wonder and all she'd seen, just for a moment...

* * *

A/N:

APPARENTLY, you people _need_ a note asking for reviews! I know you've read it, I check the view counter! :) so... REVIEW!


	3. The Enterprise Incident

The Enterprise Incident

Stardate- goodness, my Crew is so vigilant about this aspect of Time. I do not understand it, myself.

Ah, well...

My Captain has been so irritable lately. Snapping at my crew, stalking around, being more grumpy than usual. We _have_ been on patrol unusually long...

I know he must be this way. But soon, soon...

Now I wonder if he is quite in his right mind, though I know he must do this. He has ordered a course change. As my Helmsman enters the coordinates I am not suprised. I have been expecting this, though I do not know why. We are headed for the Romulan Neutral Zone! As I turn about I wonder what in the galaxy he is doing.

* * *

...We're in Romulan Space now. My Captain snaps at my Engineer and Communicator as they question his actions.

Then,_ Klingon_ ships? But there are no Klingons on them- the Romulans have simply adopted their ship design.

They are gloating, the three of them, catching the Enterprise violating the treaty, having me trapped. I try to explain that my Captain is not in his right mind. They pay no attention as they try to decode the message we have sent to Starfleet.

* * *

Why have they not destroyed us? My Captain thinks they want me intact. I am flattered that I am famous enough to be a great prize.

The Romulans look unpleasantly like my First Officer. Such terrible people do not deserve to look like such a noble race as his.

The Romulans have us surrounded, now. My Captain debates his options:

To fight.

To self-destruct.

To... _surrender_.

I do not like any of those. If we were to fight, I would be outmatched- I am well capable of defeating one Romulan ship, but three? When they have the advantage?  
Self-destructing is never a happy thought. I would not want to end my existence just yet, even if I would take those Romulan bastards with me.  
Surrender? _Never_. I am the Flagship of Starfleet- I shall never surrender! Especially not when_ I_ waltzed in, ignoring the Neutral Zone boundaries. (To be fair, my Captain seems not right in the head- it's not my fault.)

Now they want my Captain and First Officer to come aboard, in exchange for two hostages. I consider looping my transporter beam so they cannot go. But my Engineer would fix it extremely quickly, and it would only irritate those holding us.

I wait anxiously as my Captain and First Officer are held on the Romulan ship.

* * *

It is a long wait.

Gloatingly, their flagship sends me a transmission of my First Officer betraying my Captain, telling them that my Captain acted on his own and without orders.

The Romulans attempt to _make_ us surrender. I am proud of my Engineer, telling them that I will never be surrendered. I agree completely.

I've tapped into the security feeds on the Romulan ship- the cell my Captain is in. I watch as he is declared unfit to command me. I am sick at heart, though I know this will not have to last much longer.

My Captain sreams at my First Officer,

_Traitor, traitor! I'll kill you!_

He meets my Captain's attack with a Vulcan Death Grip. My Captain freezes, staggers, and falls. I shudder, I long to tear into that other ship with my phasers, to beam my Captain back and _destroy_ the Romulans! I know it will not last, it is not true, it is_ fake_- but he _is_ dead.

I beam my Doctor and my Captain's body to Sickbay and wait. I promise I will not answer any commands until I see it...

There! His eyes open! He is back, he is back! I am elated, he is alive!

* * *

My Doctor prepares for something new. I watch the process, extremely amused and slightly horrified.

My Engineer is called down too. His reaction, I must say, is priceless. But my Captain, looking like a Romulan-! It is hilarious.

As I prepare to beam my Captain back on that Romulan ship, I cannot help but wonder if this ridiculous disguise will work. My First Officer, I can tell, is on the same ship, drawing the threads of their web together.

I am quite proud of my Captain and First Officer, playing their roles so perfectly. Oh, wait- hold on- Hey! That's a member of _my _crew you're seducing, you Romulan! Get away! Gah- where's my Captain... Acting as a Romulan, he is bluffing his way through the ship very well.

Their plan is truly brilliant, and only a few suspicions arise as it draws near to its goal-

They have found the heart of the Romulan ship! Haha! Now who gets to gloat, you little piece of space junk-!

Ahem. I control myself. Such childish taunts, however justified, will completely ruin my reputation as a terrifying, fierce opponent. Besides, my Captain and First Officer must still be beamed back.

* * *

They are safely on board, now, with the Romulans' greatest secret. My Engineer hurries to examine it and find a way to install the cloaking device into my own circuits. He succeeds, and the Romulan ships are confused and frantic now, as I fade from their sensors as they have so often faded from mine.

As my crew and I warp back to Federation territory, they decide to watch an old-Earth 'movie'. I limit the choices to a few- the ones known as 'The Sting', and 'Ocean's Eleven' and its sequels. I await their reactions.

* * *

A/N: So! a little after-the-credits for this one. I decided it fit.  
but, anyways- reviews make me happy. I know- and it's similar for most of my stories- that for every fifty or so views, I get ONE review. Really guys? I know _I_ review. So why won't you? :(  
(sorry about the guilt trip, I just want to know what you think)


	4. The Trouble with Tribbles

The Trouble With Tribbles

Stardate... Bah, I give up!

My Crew has picked up a Priority One distress call from the nearby space station, K-7. I race towards it, preparing for the worst.

As I come within sensor range, my sensors pick up... nothing? The station's dull consciousness informs me of the same thing. Well, then, I wonder, why have I been summoned?

My Captain wonders the same thing as I glide into orbit around the space station. There is, apparently, a shipment of quatrotriticalie being stored there, in preparation for the colonization of a new planet. The overseeing authority on K-7 feels that the grain must be protected. I am annoyed when this comes to light. _Are you kidding me? _I want to ask. Summoning the Flagship of Starfleet for some grain?

Eh. At least my Crew gets shore leave. Oh, Captain, why are you forcing shore leave on my Engineer? He likes _me_ better than that space station.

I watch my crew in the space station, still disgruntled. Hold on- my Communicator is being accosted by a traveling salesman. Greasy-looking fellow. He's selling a little ball of fur- ! It's alive?! It's got no defining features except fur, no indication of it being able to do, well, anything! But my Crewmembers find it adorable, so I will... _tolerate_ it.

* * *

Despite the ignominy of being summoned for a false alarm, or near to it, I have calmed down. Or mostly. Another ship is on my sensors now-

Klingons! I should have known! They_ would _break the treaty like this-

Oh. Wait. Their captain is on the space station. The Klingon ship is snide as she assures me there will be no attack.

The Klingon ship and I circle each other and K-7, each waiting for an act of aggression, both of us spoiling for a fight- her to try and take me down, me because I do _not_ like having Klingons in my territory.

I decide that the ship will behave herself (or else) and tap into the Starbase's computers to monitor my Crew.

My Engineer and Navigator are in K-7's bar, resolutely ignoring the Klingons. I am amused at my Engineer and Navigator's friendly banter over their drinks.

My attention is drawn to the Klingons now, as one of them has, apparently, had a bit too much to drink. He's insulting my Crew now, and my Captain! Why, the nerve of him! My Navigator would like to hit him. Good, defending my Crew's good name- Wait, what? My Engineer is holding him back- well, that's to be expected. He's a rather peaceful fellow, my Engineer.

But sometimes I disagree with him- like now! That Klingon just insulted my Captain! And- _me_! A garbage scull? No, _garbage_?! How _dare_ he?

My usually calm Engineer echoes my rage, as he hits that Klingon full in the face. Oh, my Engineer, my knight in shining armor, defending my honor!

I point the fight out to the Klingon ship- and how _three_ of my Crew are soundly whipping several of her _best_ warriors.

She sulks.

I am silently smug.

* * *

I look towards my Crew as they are questioned by my Captain. Oh, Captain, you know the Klingons deserved it.

What's this gathering in Rec. Room 3? That furball my Communications Officer bought has... multiplied? Hmm. I shall keep an eye on them. My Crew seem calmed by them- yes, even you, First Officer. No emotions, indeed.

The little things breed faster than Earth rabbits, quickly populating many of my Crew's quarters.

The Klingon ship seems almost anxious as I tell her about the creatures.

* * *

All right. Seriously. These little- tribbles, are they called? They need to be contained. They're running loose in Engineering, Sickbay, and my Bridge. Crawling up walls, trolling my Captain by sitting in his chair- really. This needs to- gah, they're in the air ducts, too?!

* * *

...

...

I am _not_ happy. I am infested with these little creatures, these _tribbles_.

They're in all my systems, even the replicators- _how_ do they get into the _replicators_?

They're even in the Starbase... in the quatrotriticalie.

...Damn.

My poor Captain. He's about as fed up with the tribbles as I am- as he investigates the space station he's buried by the creatures as he finds the grain devoured. Oh, Captain...

My Doctor finds that the grain has poisoned the tribbles, killing them as it would have the colonists it was meant for. And the Kilngons did it, I'm sure! True, there's been no proof yet, but...

Those Klingons are_ too bold_! _Demanding_ an apology from my Captain, after _they_ instigated every problem _we've_ had to put up with! It's no wonder the tribbles don't like them.

Aha! The tribbles! They hate the Klingons, and the feeling's mutual, apparently.

They like my First Officer, they like the Starbase authority (no taste there), but his assistant-

Is Klingon. Ha. Well, _that's_ sorted out now, but I'M STILL TRIBBLE-INFESTED HERE, PEOPLE! It's getting rather tiresome!

Oh, the mutual admiration society has saved me. I take great pleasure in the Klingon ship's startled yelp as she goes into warp.

* * *

A/N: Ah! another chapter! Sorry if I got details wrong on this one, I didn't have ready access to the episode. And I will end the guilt-trip review requests, I think they were obnoxious and I apologize. But please review anyways!


	5. The Tholian Web

The Tholian Web

We are searching for my sister Defiant, who disappeared three weeks ago. I do not like this space we're in- it's shifting, appearing and disappearing around me. It is unsettling, to have nothingness disappear and reappear.

This is uncharted space, but that is not what has me nervous. What has me nervous is how my sister ship hangs, adrift, in the shifting vacuum, right in front of me, and I cannot sense her.

There is no subsoace signal, no traces of radiation- for all my computers know, she is not there. But I, I know better than to rely fully on computers. I know my sister is there. All that is left is to figure out why my computers are convinced otherwise.

I have slowed to impulse power only, cautious of the shifting nothing and of the strange glow around Defiant.

And... Dangit. Of course my Captain would do something as manly and impulsive as to barge into her Bridge, near heedless of any conditions on her.

* * *

Defiant is drifting away from me now. My Engineer, left in charge by my reckless Captain, decides I should stay within transporter range. _He_ is cautious and rational, much more so than my Captain.

Defiant's crew is dead, from what seems to be an impossible mutiny. They're scattered, in various stages of injury, but all dead.

My crew, they need to get out. Now. Defiant is shifting out of our space, possibly taking my crew with her- My Captain and First Officer, my Navigator and Doctor.

Three of them are back, safe, in my own transporter room, but my Captain- he is left on Defiant as she fades out completely.

No! I rage inside as she is gone. No! My Captain! He can't be- he's not- NO!

No...

* * *

I must wait for two hours as Defiant fades back in.

My Navigator, upon hearing of the possibility that I and my Crew could be stuck in the Defiant's realm, goes slightly mad and attacks my First Officer.

He is taken to Sickbay, unconcious.

A small ship is approaching me, making bold claims to this space. Ugh. I have no interest in such a confrontation right now. My Captain is missing, my Warp Engines are fluctuating slightly, I could be trapped in some strange other unierse, and my Crew is going mad.

No. This is not a good time for a trivial, obnoxious, territorial dispute.

Sol damn it! The little Tholian ship has waited exactly the two hours till my Captain's reappearance, but has disturbed the surounding soace so that my Engineer cannot transport him aboard! It's things like this... Just obnoxious events like this that make me want to blow a crater in someone's planet.

And now they're not backing down, just being even more belligerent.

I disabled the little ship, but the attack cost me my engines. I cannot help but drift now. And there are more of the little ships?! They're like spiders, spinning a web around me... A golden thread of energy, circling me completely. I fear I will be trapped soon...

* * *

My Captain is officially... No. No, I won't think of it.

My First Officer and Doctor listen to the tape he left for them. They have come to an uneasy peace following some... unkind discussions, and now they must focus on the Tholian threat.

* * *

My Communications Officer has seen an image of my Captain, alive?! She is not crazy, she never has been, she could be right about this! Hope sparks through my circuitry even as the Tholians close their web tighter.

Ha! Now my Engineer has seen him too! He's alive, surely! It's not a hallucination! There must be a chance- there has to be-

* * *

Everyone is affected by this changing space. Even my Doctor, as he snaps at my First Officer.

An image of my Captain appears again, on the Bridge this time, in front of everyone!

...

He looks slightly like he's kissing an invisible female...

...

No, he was just shouting silently. Or screaming in terrible pain. Oh, no, no no _no_, he can't be in terrible pain! That wouldn't be good at all, but at least I know he's alive.

* * *

Apparently my phasers have torn a hole in the already-fragile space, sending my sister Defiant somewhere unknown... I believe only ten of us Constitution-Class starships are left, out of twelve. Constellation was lost, and now Defiant... I have a sinking feeling I'll be next, considering my Captain's knack for steering me into trouble.

But my Crew always pulls through. My Doctor has found a medicine that counters the maddening effects of this shifting space! Of course, upon hearing that it included alcohol, my Engineer went to try mixing it with Scotch...

In the meantime, the Tholians have almost completed their web. I have sinking feeling when I realize it will be seconds between my Captain being beamed on board and the web activating.

As soon as my Captain is held in my transporter beam, my Engineer gets my engines working and I jump free of the web, drawing my Captain along. He appears again and I beam him aboard! All is right in my world.

Safe on my Bridge, he inquires about the last orders he left for my Doctor and First Officer. They pretend not to have heard them, leaving my poor Captain to think they stopped fighting like an old married couple on their own.

* * *

A/N: Whew! Sorry this took so long, guys; there aren't that many episodes that can be rewritten well from the Enterprise's POV. I think I'll do the Lights of Zetar next, then a closing chapter, and then a sort-of followup story. Canon changes a bit in the next chapter, because the Enterprise isn't always unconditionally protective of her Crew!

P.S.- Kudos to anyone who caught the Firefly reference!


	6. The Lights of Zetar

A/N: Another chapter! After how long? Anyway, be prepared for a changing of the plot of the episode, and *gasp* Character Death! (and a random scene I couldn't help but include. It's okay if you don't recognize it.)

* * *

The Lights of Zetar

I am en route to Memory Alpha, a planetoid devoted entirely to free information. I am bringing new equipment, and with it, a specialist, a Lieutenant... who is causing... problems for me.

Problems with... Certain Relationships.

It wouldn't be so bad, except that she is in Engineering so often- with_ my_ Engineer.

I should have seen it. Seen _them_. My Captain thinks they're in love- ha! I'd call it infatuation, at best. My Engineer wouldn't leave me so abruptly, would he? Five years, five years in Engineering, tinkering, fixing, disregarding the manuals and allowing me my full potential... And he goes chasing after her.

* * *

I've been intently focused on monitoring their every action, so much that I almost fail to notice the cloud, a flashing light show moving at Warp Two. It can't be natural.

The lights flow effortlessly through my hull, partially paralyzing my Crew. My Crew, why can't I help them?!

At least they're unharmed when the cloud passes on. Except for that Lieutenant- she collapses only moments after they pass. I've half a mind to fly through the cloud again, but the rest of my Crew wouldn't be too happy.

The Lieutenant is taken to Sickbay, and questioned by my Doctor. My Engineer won't leave, though, won't check my engines for damage as he was wont to do after something traumatizing-

And he treats her like a child. I'm disgusted by the both of them now. He condescends terribly, trying to be chivalrous and romantic and failing utterly.

At least my Captain has no patience for that Engineer's loitering around. I am glad he's ordered back to Engineering- I don't think I could have stood any more of that. Ugh.

* * *

I'm still chasing that cloud, though I've fallen behind a bit. As I approach Memory Alpha, i notice that the cloud has engulfed it already- and my Crew can't make contact.

Memory's mind, stretched over an entire celestial body, is weak despite its massive intelligence. It expresses its shock, confusion, and pain to me. Every one of its people is dead.

As my Crew beam down to investigate, I pick up a faint life sign. My Doctor finds the person it belongs to, a woman. I can't tell what happens, but several minutes later, my Crew come back, discussing strange noises made by the dying woman, and I can glean a recording from my Doctor's tricorder. Hmm.

* * *

These lights are going down. They've caught up with me, and matched all my maneuvers. They haven't attacked yet, but I owe it to Memory to avenge the deaths of its Crew. They won't move out from in front of me, though. So my Captain gives the order to fire phasers- a warning shot. My weapons graze the cloud, and I note, interestingly enough, that the Lieutenant, down in Engineering, is in pain too.

My next phaser shot is much more enthusiastic, and right into the heart of the cloud. This time, it reacts slightly, but the Lieutenant is in terrible pain- another shot will kill her.

Unfortunately my Captain stops firing, and another shot would be blatantly obvious. I don't want to get my Helmsman in trouble.

* * *

Th Lieutenant is questioned and examined after the phaser incident. She reveals several 'psychic episodes' or some such nonsense. She claims to have seen the dead personnel at Memory, and felt emotions not her own. But then she reveals another 'vision'... of my Engineer dying.

I won't let that happen...

Whatever it takes.

* * *

The Lieutenant's brain waves are changing, matching the alien cloud's. My Doctor and Engineer figure out a way to destroy the aliens and save her. (It'd be much simpler to kill them both, I think.)

The anti-gravity test units, with adjustable pressure. That's their solution. It would be so easy, now, I think, as they rush to the appropriate science labs as the lights return with force-

Ensign. What are you doing?

Ensign! Stop!

...I still don't have any idea _what_ he was doing.

* * *

The lights have taken- possessed, for lack of a better term- the Lieutenant. Ten life forms, ten conscuiousnesses. She retains her sense of self yet, though- she fights them with all her strength. Still, they speak through her, express their demands. I'd let them have her, and good riddance. But she keeps saying that my Engineer could be injured. I'll kill her if she harms him- she keeps warning him to stay away, she'll kill him- _why doesn't he listen?!_ My Captain stays well back. But my Engineer, stubborn as he is, he insists on approaching her, lifting her into the pressure chamber-

_SCOTTY!_

* * *

He's not dead, he's not dead- my Engineer... Scotty. I realize, that's the first time I've thought of him as such, instead of my Engineer.

She won't hurt him again. I won't let her. I don't think she could control the lights. I'll make sure the lights die. A delay in the pressure will suffice.

* * *

My First Officer increases the pressure carefully, from one to ten atmospheres, ten to fifteen...

Twenty.

Thirty.

I freeze the pressure at thirty-five, just enough that the lights and the Lieutenant can both tolerate it. My First Officer continues, as my Doctor still gets life signs on his tricorder.

Forty.

I release the pressure to match the readings. My Doctor's tricorder goes still. My four highest-ranked officers are silent. I see on their faces; my Captain's sorrow, my Doctor's disbelieving anger, on my First Officer's face a ghost of regret, and my Engineer... grief. Terrible, and not even fully apparent. And I know he will turn to my engine room for comfort.

What has driven me to do this?


	7. End: The Edge of the Galaxy

A/N: So this is the last chapter, not based on a specific episode but references Where No Man Has Gone Before. It's kind of a segway into the next story I'll be posting, The Enterprise Incarnate. So... Sorry it's short, but it's not meant to be a full chapter.

* * *

The Edge of the Galaxy

Space is thinner here, more malleable. Less solid. Matter may be manipulated...

* * *

This is the Edge. The barrier between fmailiar sights and stars, and the wild black yonder, even more alienated than the farthest reaches of our own galaxy.

And I am hurtling towards it.

I am calm as my Crew is rushing through an emergency. I am prepared, or so I think, for that energy field, the Barrier.

Last time I got through it, I pushed through, but this time... I do not feel the same. It's been years... I've explored, and pushed the limits of knowledge. I've fought, defended my Crew...

But I don't want to go beyond my galaxy.

I impact the Barrier at Warp Two, a jolt of pure energy racing over my hull, shocking, burning, like the hits of a thousand phasers all at once-

I am wrenched out of myself. Floating among this strange space... I am here. I see myself floating next to the barrier, saucer and secondary hull and nacelles... I can see why Scotty calls me his 'Silver Lady'.

My mind is detatched from my hull still, as the bolt of energy lances through my systems. I am not the ship anymore. I am within, viewing my Crew as they see themselves. How much more real they seem, without life signs fluttering feebly around their heads and readings pouring into my comuters from them.

I am one of them. I flex my fingers, touch the sleeve of my uniform shirt. How strange...

The charge is dissipating. My consciousness is realgned with my hull and I am brought back to myself.

* * *

My Crew are part of my existence. Most sentients wish to understand their existence better; shouldn't I, then, want to understand my Crew better?

We are on different levels of existence. I am a Starship; they are humans and a Vulcan. We are not the same.

But the space here is thinner. More malleable. Matter can be manipulated...


End file.
